Fluid flow control devices, such as a control valves, are commonly used to control characteristics of a fluid flowing through a pipe. A typical device includes a valve body defining an inlet, an outlet, and a fluid flow path extending between the inlet and the outlet. A valve seat ring is coupled to the valve body and defines an orifice through which the flow path travels. A throttling element, such as a plug, is moveable relative to the valve seat ring to control fluid flow through the orifice.
When selecting a control valve for a particular process, a control valve engineer may be faced with many design requirements and design constraints. For example, some piping applications require piping connections to be axially aligned where other applications may permit piping connections to be at right angles relative to the inlet and outlet of the valve. Still other applications may have constraints on the face-to-face dimensions (i.e. the distance between the inlet and outlet of the control valve).
One common style of control valve is a globe valve. More particularly, a top-entry globe valve may be commonly used due to its ease of maintenance and application versatility. These types of valves can be used in critical applications, such as severe service applications, where radiated noise and turbulent flow may be an issue. Such top-entry access to the internal components provides quick changes and maintenance that eliminates costly downtime in the process plant. Top-entry globe valves include non-axial How paths; otherwise known as tortuous, flow paths. Such non-axial flow paths can create turbulence in the flow path of the control valve, which can detrimentally impact the performance of the system and lead to operational inefficiencies and increased operational costs and downtime.